Whether it be hillwalking, mountaineering, climbing, kayaking, canoeing, skiing or snowboarding, all of these adventure sports give me the same rush of adrenaline, excitement and thrill. This blog follows my experiences in the outdoors as an aspirant instructor.

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30/12/2009

True Scottish Winter (avalanches, broken bones and Rescues)

The past two climbing days I've had, the weather has been amazing. So it is only fair that I have some bad weather days to balance things out again.

Leaving the house at 6a.m. this morning and found that it wasn't as cold as I had expected it to be. I was to meet Jason at the 'Green Welly Stop' so we could go and have a look at 'easannie'. We decided that we would prefer some shelter from the wind and decided to go to BeinnUdlaidh again to try and tick a few more routes off there.

We found ourselves to be the first one's there which meant we had the whole crag to choose from we headed for 'South Gully' (grade IV), at the bottom of the route we were being buried constantly by powder avalanches landing on us. This forced us onto 'Green Eyes' (grade IV) instead.

The route took longer than expected but it was done in true Scottish Winter style due to the constant spin drift and powder avalanches falling on top of us and lots of 'hot aches', this aside it was a great route.

As we were heading back to the bags at the bottom of the corrie we noticed; the wind slab was huge and we were on the lee side of a concave slope. As we decided to take the longer walk back to the bags an avalanche gave way behind us.

As we approached our rucksacks, looking forward to going home, we were stopped by a man who informed us of a climber that had broken his leg in an avalanche. He was going to phone the Mountain Rescue Team, he asked if we would be able to go and make sure the two guys were okay.

We grabbed our bags and did our best to keep Matt warm and comfortable until help came. When I finally got to my car I had 7 messages and 5 missed calls from friends and family hoping that I was okay, I am obviously fine. Unfortunately they had heard the news that two climbers had died on Ben Nevis. My thoughts go out to there friends and family in the same way my friends and family were thinking of me.

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Graham Boistelle

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About Me

Climbing is my first passion and I have been going into the hills since I was twelve.
Since then I have always been an outdoor enthusiast. As well as being Chairman of Nevis Canoe Club, I am also a member of Lochaber Athletics Club.
I enjoy all outdoor activities because I find they take you to places where you just shouldn't go!
I am trying to make a full time career from teaching these sports. I really enjoy passing on these skills and giving people a chance to experience something they wouldn't normally have the chance to do.